Yesterday, my 75 yr old mother and I stopped by the store to pick up a six pack of local beer to…read morecelebrate my short visit from the West Coast. The sign on the door said that no one was allowed in the store due to COVID concerns and that we needed to call, give the attendant our order, and it would be brought out to us. My mom and I were fine with this (she had shopped there before and was familiar with the routine) and called the number. The gentleman behind the counter - roughly 25 ft away from us and clearly visible through the glass door/front window - picked up the phone and asked what we wanted. We couldn't remember the name of the beer and tried to describe the packaging to him. The gentleman (who I assume is the owner but can't be sure) continued to stand behind the counter and watch us as we squinted/stood on our toes/craned our necks/etc. in an attempt to identify the product on one of the shelves. He never left the counter or tried to help us. Finally, we were able to make out the name of the beer on the shelf, and mom gave him our order and told him that she would be paying with a credit card. Then, instead of coming to the door to collect my mother's card as he had in the past, the gentleman insisted my mother give him her card number and security code while she stood there on the public sidewalk of the strip mall. Before I could stop her from giving the info, a construction worker working in the empty store next door walked by slowly, and I turned my attention to him to make sure he wasn't listening. By the time I turned back to mom, the gentleman behind the counter had asked her for her HOME ADDRESS which she was already in process of giving. Clearly I told mom to never do that again, and I waited for the gentleman to deliver our order to the door. When he opened the door, I calmly said that he shouldn't be asking customers to give out their personal information while standing on a public sidewalk. That it was dangerous and inappropriate. He quickly and coldly responded, "You could have gone to your car." As I stood there shocked at this ridiculous and clearly not customer-friendly response, he continued, "Or ordered online." He then closed the door, locked it and scurried back to his counter. This is customer service at it's worst, and clearly a dangerous practice. We will never be returning to this establishment, and I encourage others to stay away as well. There are a number of other quality options in the Charlottesville area.

If you know a little or know a lot about wine, these good folks will hook you up. They even offer…read morea "frequent buyer card" once full gets 20% off your choice of bottle! A deal! Even when the phone is ringing, the Owner has time to answer in person questions and make recommendations. I like to support local. I highly recommend this shop!

The Gray is a wonderful quaint and convenient shop right off of the UVA corner. Super convenient…read morefor visitors and students who are of age. The owner has very kindly helped to explain the entire selection to us as we teach our wine class. The owner is local to Charlottesville and has been running the family business after a pandemic business shift. They specialize in wines under $20 and even have a section under $12. They also have a finer selection of wines from all different regions! The Gray validates parking behind finch at the corner lot for one hour and there's also a convenient and cheap lot right across the street. Some street parking available too by the episcopal church.

Best place I have ever been. The owner is so nice and accommodating. Highly recommend to anyone in…read morethe Charlottesville area!

Don't be fooled by the location or the atmosphere. Hardworking entrepreneur and family/business…read more Great conversation and great spirits!

This place should not be looked past. One man operation, but this guy knows his stuff! Very very…read morenice and their spirits are exceptional! Worth the visit!

We wandered into white hall after stopping elsewhere and being disappointed with both the service…read moreand wine...and this was such a pleasant turn of our day! The ladies working were friendly and knowledgeable, we split a flight and did not taste a single bad wine. They said all (or almost all, my memory is a little fuzzy on that fact) of them are dry, and I loved that you could choose four of your liking. We tried the viognier, cab, petit Verdot and merlot - they were all so perfectly balanced and delicious. We sat by the fire and had a great time, it was so cozy. I can't wait to come back and enjoy the outdoor space.

It had been several years so I decided to revisit. At 50 acres it is one of the bigger vineyards in…read morethe area, although it sells most of its fruit (only 2000-ish cases/year). It also has one of the prettiest driveways I've seen so far! The wines tended towards very light, even for the reds. If you're not a tannin fan, you'll find a lot to like here. 16 Viognier: Floral and honey notes, honey on the palate 15 Estate Chardonnay: Grassy notes, not much oak 17 Le Gras Rose: Nice! Cherry-ish 15 Merlot: For some reason I got a tart finish, which is unusual for most merlots that I've tried 15 Cab Franc: Also nice; cherry-ish finish. 14 Tannat: Nice body, strong tannin.

This is going to be a very unusual review, because it's an unusual winery. It's definitely a worthy…read moreway for me to publish my 200th review of Virginia's wine scene! Mountfair ONLY produces Bordeaux-style red blends; their mantra is 'no sweet, no white'. And what they do, they do very, very well. Fortunately these are the styles wines I love the best, hence I must give them my full 5 star endorsement. They are rarely open to the public - they sell nearly 100% of their wine to their wine club, so there's very little left over for us non-members! That said, I came on one of the rare occasions they DO open to the public. I had the opportunity to try two red blends; a 75%/25% Merlot/Cab Sauv blend named "Gimme", and a blend that was equal parts Merlot/Cab Sauv/Petit Verdot (they produce more but the remainder were low on stock or sold out). But the two I did try were excellent; so much so I purchased the PV-heavy "Wooloomooloo" blend without having tasted it first. They also have some 'guest' white wines which you can purchase, but they don't make themselves (when I visited they were French wines). I chatted with a wine club member and was told they are very good at holding on to your shipments for extended periods of time. While the winery is rarely open, members can still contact them and figure out a time to do a club shipment pickup, even if they are not otherwise open that day. Mountfair's setup is very basic; a porch, small indoor tasting room, and a medium sized party room. That said, it's one of those rare Virginia wineries that is 100% focused on the WINE, as opposed to spending their cash on fancy tasting rooms or events.

I finally found it - a hipster winery. But more than that, one of the best wineries in the area…read moreunique from its hundreds of competitors. Certainly one of the most unique and pleasant wine tasting experiences I've had so far in Virginia. This place only specializes in reds, which is a godsend to me. We started off with a white from another vineyard, a Pinot Grigio aged in a steel barrel which almost convinced me I like whites. Next we tried two ciders - that's right ciders! At a wine tasting! I'm probably easily impressed but this was a first for me at a winery. We wrapped up the tasting with their Reds, which were spectacular if a bit pricey for a bottle compared to other wineries (around $30 a bottle). The best part is we did the tasting outside with the wine/coder brought to us. This place was full of surprises. The atmosphere is closer to a blue grass bar than a winery (note - they have a Blue Grass band come in and perform on Saturdays at their indoor stage), and it was a really chill atmosphere. In conclusion, this place goes out of its way to shake off the pretentiousness of other wineries. The fact it goes out of its way to distinguish itself plus back it up with some of the best Reds in the area, makes this a must on your wine travels.

We had a great experience at Vitae Spirits. My boyfriend and I went for valentines and were super…read moresurprised to get a table. The overall vibe was wonderful. We were fortunate enough to be able to get sushi from Yoshihiro Tauchi. It was wonderful and surprisingly affordable. It was presented beautifully. We also got some flights. The spirits were great. I am absolutely in love with this place and I'm looking forward to coming back.

Had a chance to visit this distillery. The area is pretty…read moredowntown, it is on the corner of a busy area but we were able to park in front and walk right in. The staff was very nice and accommodating. We had a larger party of 9. We were instantly greeted and given water without asking. We tried different flights. All of their liquor and mixed drinks had different flavors in it which I wasn't used to. For example some may have vanilla, pineapple, etc. When I have gone to distilleries typically you only get flavor from the barrels not like infusions. So I wasn't used to that. The customer service was great though and D was extremely patient with the party that I was with.

Buyer beware - the other reviews on here are not written by serious wine drinkers. How do I know?…read moreMy group came to Montifalco yesterday and was excited to try some great wines. With so many positive reviews, how could we go wrong? They set us up in the cutest little private cottage and we're so sweet. Unfortunately that's where the charm begins and ends. We got five different wines to try. The bubbly was good but the rest were awful. No one in our group of ten found them even remotely drinkable. The one red was so acidic, my friend was up until 4:00am with an upset stomach from the acid burn. It's incredibly disappointing how bad the wines are given how cute the space is and how friendly the staff is. We went back to our Airbnb and opened our own bottles afterwards to cleanse our palattes.

Writing this while still sitting here as the experience has been absolutely fantastic…read more Came on a Monday after having Montifalco recommended for YEARS from other winery/industry folk. I'm sad it took me this long to get out here but enabled us to come on a day when only one other party was enjoying their outside area! A rare, beautiful 80 degree sunny day in July, nice music and a nice breeze make for a perfect wine sipping environment! The employees were both so incredibly nice and welcoming. We split their featured flight and there was not a single wine I didn't enjoy! Will be leaving here with a bottle or two and probably be returning very soon!

On my way to check out the nearby orchard, I spotted this winery, and decided to stop in after…read moredoing some apple picking. I'm really glad I did. The site is gorgeous, and the wine was good. First off, this is the only area winery that I know of that is adults only -- no, you can not bring your kids. Honestly, I'm not sure when going to drink at a winery or brewery became a "family" activity, and huge, huge kudos to Septenary for keeping the demonspawn out. I can't tell you the number of times (at other wineries), I've watched Mom and Dad hop out of the car, drink a few glasses, and pop back in with little Timmy, Billy, and Sally... that's just such an irresponsible thing to do with your kids. Add to that, 98% of the time, kids wind up bored and screaming and ruining the experience for everyone else? Yes, please leave your kids at home. Trust me, it's better for them and everyone else if they don't go from winery to winery with you. Also, as another big YAY to them, they don't allow smoking, including your trendy "e" cig. My lungs thank them for this policy almost as much as my ears thank them for the no kids policy. There's a lot of parking, and you'll wander up and see a beautiful infinity pool around the outdoor seating area. There's a lot of outdoor seating, but it was fr-fr-freezing, so we opted to sit inside. The inside area is almost as gorgeous as the views outside. There's an upstairs area that is breathtaking, but it's apparently for club members only. They don't really do a traditional tasting. You can order a half-glass of any wine, which is about $5-8, depending on wine. They recommend you do five, but you can try as many or as few as you want -- we went with just four. It's a serious half glass, which is a pretty generous tasting, intended to be split between two. The wines are self described as dry, and they are. That works really well for some types, though one or two weren't to my tastes. However, I absolutely needed to get a bottle or ... more ... of the various reds. I didn't see or don't recall seeing any food when we went, but they do have some picnic basket options during warmer times.

Sixth stop on our wine tasting weekend: Saturday 1:25pm. I'm…read moreso glad we decided to try this new-ish winery. The grounds were gorgeous, and I could see myself spending a lot of time hearing nestled under the trees. The first thing we noticed is that instead of tasting at a long bar, we were invited to choose a table and be served by a member of staff. And, instead of a set tasting list, you can pick and choose what you want among the offerings to build your own (see photo). The Viognier was a stand out, very creamy and soft. I also enjoyed the red blends, especially the Springhouse Red. We will be back!